Special Delivery
by doggieearlover
Summary: Post manga. It is the national holiday Seijin no hi and Mama wonders how Kagome is doing back in the Feudal Era while the girls her age are celebrating their coming of age.


**Disclaimer: **I still don't own InuYasha or any other characters from the manga/anime. They belong to the creative genius of Rumiko Takahashi.

This was written for the anniversary contest at Eternal Destiny. The challenge was to write what we saw as "happily ever after" for InuYasha and Kagome.

**Special Delivery**

Mama Higurashi sat alone in front of the television. It was Seijin no hi, and most of the local television stations were showing the festivities with young men and women who were celebrating their coming of age. In fact, the shrine was quite busy, keeping Jii-chan and Souta occupied. With a sigh, Mama got up. She really should go out and see what she could do to help.

The shrine had numerous young ladies in beautiful kimonos and their special white fur collars for the occasion. Mama couldn't help but to wipe away a tear. This was the year that Kagome would have celebrated her coming of age. She would have lived the life of a carefree city girl, albeit a shrine miko, had fate not had other plans for her. Instead she was back in a time when girls were considered women at the age she was when she fell into the well. And then, after returning for three years, she was gone for good. It was almost ironic that the celebratory girls were wearing collars that reminded her of InuYasha's hair.

Mama couldn't blame her – she knew where her daughter's heart lay. If she still wanted to be with InuYasha after being separated from him by three years so much that the power of her heart reopened the well, then that was where she belonged.

"Mrs. Higurashi?" a voice interrupted. "Are you Kagome's mother?"

Startled, the older woman turned at looked at the messenger. "Yes, I am she."

"I have a letter for you, special delivery," the leather clad young man said. "Would you sign here, please? It was to be delivered to you on this day."

A little suspicious, Mama asked, "Would you take your helmet off? You look somewhat familiar."

The messenger nodded and removed the helmet from his head to reveal bright red spiked hair and brilliant green eyes.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry; I guess I was thinking of someone else. Where do I sign?"

"Right here, ma'am," he answered as he pointed to the line where her signature was required. "And here you are." He handed her a stainless steel cylinder.

Mama took it and stared at it curiously. "Who sent it?"

She received no answer and realized that he was gone.

Unsure what to do, she went and set it on the kitchen table and just stared at it. Surely it couldn't be anything dangerous. Picking it back up and turning it over, she saw the small marking towards the bottom. It had what looked like a paw print and the company name, Foxtails Enterprises. Curiosity getting the better of her, she opened it.

She was half expecting some of those fake snakes or some such to come flying out, scaring her, but when she took the lid off, nothing happened. She upended the canister to reveal a scroll that began to slide out of it. Carefully, she pulled it out and on to the table.

"What you got, Mama?" Souta asked as he came in.

"I don't know, honey. A messenger brought it a little while ago." She slapped his hand as he reached for it. "Careful, Souta."

"You don't think its poisoned or something, do you?" he asked, pulling his hand back.

Mama shook her head. "No, honey, but it looks old and fragile. It might be something for the shrine, and we don't want to damage it."

"Well, unroll it and see what it is," he urged.

"All right."

Mama carefully unrolled the delicate parchment, yellow from age. "Oh, my," she whispered.

_Hi Mama, Souta, and Jii-chan,_

_If you're reading this, then it must be Seijin no hi and I would be celebrating my twentieth year if I was there with you. I think about you all of the time and wonder how you are doing, and thought you probably wonder about me and InuYasha, too. By the way, he says 'hi'. _

_I wanted you to know that we have had a long and happy life. As you are reading this, we have one child, a boy, and I am pregnant again. InuYasha never thought he would have a family of his own, so I wanted to give him a big one. We named our first after Daddy, I hope you don't mind._

"No, I don't mind. He'd be honored," Mama said out loud.

_In all, we had seven children, four boys and three girls. Only two of them have InuYasha's ears, and two of them appear to be entirely human. Of course Yoshi was the first, but following him we had another boy, Hanata who has my dark hair but InuYasha's ears. Then we had two girls - Emi and a year later, Hana. We waited a couple of years before the next, and then our beautiful boy Kaito was born. Not only does he appear to be human, but he inherited my spiritual powers as well. Another year passed and we were blessed with our silver-haired inu-eared daughter, Misake, and then our last was Shirou, who appears entirely human but hasn't exhibited any spiritual powers. He does have a knack for herbs and potions, though, and has become a very good healer. _

"Wow, seven kids," Mama commented as she continued to read.

_I was so worried early on that we'd end up like the guy in the Highlander movie, with me dying from old age while InuYasha still looked the same. It turns out that because of his human heart, he's growing old with me. Apparently it takes a hanyou a long time to go through their childhood, but once they reach maturity they start to age more normally – or at least InuYasha has. I did ask Myouga about it one time (remember him? InuYasha's flea youkai vassal I told you about?), and he told me that InuYasha could effectively control his aging – or at least his heart can. Because he has chosen a human to be his wife, he's aging as I do. It makes me sad, but then I know he had a lonely and painful life before. He seems happy and content as we grow old and watch our children grow up, and I could never deny him that. _

_He was so worried when I first came back. It was clear he loved me (and apparently had been checking the well every three days to see if it would work), but he was scared of what the villagers would think. I guess they've gotten so used to seeing us together in the past that they didn't give us too much grief. There were a small handful, but the village elder and Kaede took care of them. I trained with Kaede and learned so that I could eventually replace her as the village miko (she wasn't getting any younger), and married InuYasha. _

_He built me a cute little hut near where the house I grew up in now stands. He had grand ideas of making me something similar to what I was used to, but I had to inform him that I didn't want to have to clean a home that large or heat it in the winter. However, we did have to enlarge it some to make room for our growing family. Seven kids with varying amounts of youkai (or even none) are a handful! And that's in addition to taking care of villagers and the occasional youkai that is foolish enough to wander into the area. At least I don't have to do much as far as purifying demons anymore. InuYasha doesn't get to fight often and when he does, they don't last long. _

_Mama, don't worry about me. I love you and miss all of you, but we're doing fine. If I've kept track of the years somewhat correctly, I'll be celebrating my sixtieth birthday this year. I've mostly retired from village duties and am enjoying my garden and watching my grandchildren grow. So far, we have twenty grandkids (eight boys, twelve girls) and about a dozen great-grandchildren. It's harder to keep track as they've scattered across the country. _

_I have to admit I get tired nowadays, and I'm running out of parchment. I was sure I had some more here, but I can't find it. In case I don't get a chance to write again, I love you, and InuYasha sends his love as well. Mama, you were everything a good mother could be. I hope I've done half as well with my kids as you did with us. Souta, you're my little brother and I know you're growing up. One day you'll be the man of the house and I hope that you will take care of Mama and the Shrine. I wanted you to know that I was always proud of you. As far as Jii-chan, tell him that the stories just don't compare to the real thing, but I think of him often, too, even as I'm living the history he loves to retell. _

_If you have a visitor with bright red hair and green eyes, you might want to invite him in. His name is Shippou and he can tell you all kinds of stories I didn't have time or enough scroll for here. However, he's a kitsune so beware of his pranks!_

"Green eyes, red hair…" Mama said to herself. "Oh, no, the messenger! I don't know how to reach him!"

_Mama, there's so much I want to say, but I don't have the words. I mainly wanted to let you know that everything worked out and I spent the rest of my life with the man I love. _

_With much love,_

_Kagome_

"Kagome, my lovely Kagome," Mama murmured as she carefully rolled the scroll back up to return it to its stainless steel tube. "I only wish I knew how to reach that messenger."

"Hey, Mama? I went out to tell Jii-chan about the scroll, but I found this gentleman. He said that he thought you might want to talk to him now," Souta informed her as he entered the kitchen.

She hastily wiped the tears from her face. "I'm sorry, what did you say, honey?"

"I thought you might have some questions for me."

Mama looked up to see the messenger had returned. "You… you… you're…" his name was on the tip of her tongue.

"It's an honor to meet you. My name is-"

"Shippou," she answered. "You knew my daughter."

He nodded.

"Would you tell me about Kagome and InuYasha? About their kids, their friends, their lives?"

Shippou bowed. "I'd be honored."

**********************************

Yoshi (m) – righteous, good

Hanata (m) – facing the sun

Emi (f) – beautiful blessing

Hana (f) – flower

Kaito (m) – soar or fly

Misake (f) – beautiful blossom

Shirou (m) – four son


End file.
